How do you pass an array to PHP from JQUERY and then send an array back to JQUERY from PHP

Question

I cannot figure this out for the life of me.

I am trying to pass a single array to a php script processData.php that will then use that data in order to execute a perl script.

I then want to return the results of the perl script back to JQUERY for display.

It looks like when I try to display the data back, the data comes back as a NULL value.

JQUERY PAGE:
$('#numDevices').click(function(event) {
        event.preventDefault();
        var test = [];
        var $number = $('#element');
        var value = $number.val();
        var container = $('#main');
        $('.device').remove();
        $('#send').remove();
        for(var i=0; i<value; i++) {
             container.append('<div class="device"><fieldset><legend>Device' + i + '</legend><textarea class="input"  rows="10">Please enter a hostname, followed by the corresponding links.</textarea></fieldset></div>');

        }
        container.append('<input type="submit" id="send" name="send" value="submit"/>');
         $('#send').click(function(event) {
             event.preventDefault();

             var device = new Array();
             $('textarea').each(function(index, area) {
                 var $area = $(area).val();
                 device.push($area);
             });

             $.ajax({
                 type: "GET",
                 url: "processData.php",
                 data: "input"+device,
                 cache: false,

                 success: function(data) {
                     alert(data);
                 },
                 error: function() {
                     alert("FAILED");
                 }
             });
         });
    });

.....

 PHP PAGE:
<?php
$data =$_GET['input'];
echo json_encode($data);
?>

So as you can see, to test, I am trying to pass an array to php, and then pass it back to JQUERY for display. I am getting a NULL value when I pass back, so I can only assume I am sending a NULL value.

If more information is needed I will gladly add it.

UPDATE

1) I have changed data: "input"+device, to data: {input: device},

I can now see the value via var_dump($data);

The problem I am having now is that the data being sent back to JQUERY is NULL.

SECOND UPDATE

1) Added: dataType: "json" 2) Changed GET to POST

New Error: 1) Parsererror 2) unexpected end of input 3) [Object][Object]

Answer 1

var device = $.map($('textarea'), function(el, i) { return el.value; });

$.ajax({
     type: "GET",
     url: "processData.php",
     dataType: 'JSON',
     data: {input : device.join('$$')},
     cache: false
}).done(function(json) {
     console.log(json);
});

PHP

<?php
    $data = $_GET['input'];
    echo json_encode( explode('$$', $data) );
?>

Answer 2

test this

$('#numDevices').click(function(event) {
        event.preventDefault();
        var test = [];
        var $number = $('#element');
        var value = $number.val();
        var container = $('#main');
        $('.device').remove();
        $('#send').remove();
        for(var i=0; i<value; i++) {
             container.append('<div class="device"><fieldset><legend>Device' + i + '</legend><textarea class="input"  rows="10">Please enter a hostname, followed by the corresponding links.</textarea></fieldset></div>');

        }
        container.append('<input type="submit" id="send" name="send" value="submit"/>');
         $('#send').click(function(event) {
             event.preventDefault();

             var device = new Array();
             $('textarea').each(function(index, area) {
                 var $area = $(area).val();
                 device.push($area);
             });

             $.ajax({
                 type: "POST",
                 url: "processData.php",
                 data: {input : device},
                 cache: false,
                 dataType: 'json',
                 success: function(data) {
                     alert(data[0]);  
                     alert(data[1]);  
                 },
                 error: function() {
                     alert("FAILED");
                 }
             });
         });
    });

In php

<?php
$data =$_POST['input'];
echo json_encode($data);
?>

Answer 3

Ok I figured out what was wrong.....

PHP version 5.4 was not installed correctly

When I did a php -v it would tell me 5.4.7, however if I did an rpm -qa | grep php it would show me version 5.1.6.

I had to remove the rpm's for 5.6.1 and install the rpm's for 5.3 and it worked.

Thank you all for helping me in solving this!!!